Sprouting Seeds
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: [poetry collection] The world is a big place, sometimes... and oh so small during other times.
1. protect

**A/N:** Written for the

Diversity Writing Challenge, i43 - write in the poetry genre (is one of four collections for this prompt, but they're otherwise not connected with each other)  
Digimon Battle Spirit - the challenge, Sukamon vs. Terriermon Strike 4. Prompts are the chapter titles, just to make things easier (since I'm only using one prompt per poem this time).

* * *

 **Sprouting Seeds**  
 _1: protect_

She's the moon dust that falls  
like powder snow, and is brushed aside  
and tucked into corners, and turned  
coal black until it's just dust  
to be swept back up  
on vacuum days

But the dust keeps the secrets  
of the dark: the shadows cast  
on the walls, the sparkling gem  
that slumbers beneath the dust.

And the dust will cling to her,  
hide her, protect her  
until the wind blows by  
and it's her turn  
to shine.


	2. well-made

**Sprouting Seeds**  
 _2: well-made_

They dream of a perfect princess  
and she's anything but:  
not a perfect girl,  
not the princess type  
that fits so comfortably  
into the mold

But she's fun, and smiling  
and the kind of charismatic  
person who calls them  
all together.

And none of them really do  
fit into their molds, but that's fine  
because they're all imperfect humans  
fighting for imperfect humans

Together  
and that's all they need.


	3. complete

**Sprouting Seeds**  
 _3: complete_

It takes them years to crawl together  
from all aspects of the galaxy –

Though, really, colleting  
the galaxy in a few years  
is no small feast.

Still, sometimes,  
it didn't seem close enough  
or fast enough – when they  
struggled, fell, cursed  
how weak they were even when  
they stood together.

But late was never too late.  
One day perhaps it would be  
or perhaps that was fate –  
fate to spare them, unite them,  
make them all the stronger for it –

And let them rise, victorious  
in the end.


	4. cats

**Sprouting Seeds**  
4: cats

They're guardian angels,  
guardian cats, with  
little crescent moons  
on their brows,  
and another world's wisdom  
behind their eyes.


	5. groan

**Sprouting Seeds**  
5: groan

Sometimes, it seems too hard  
to keep on fighting, keep on smiling  
keep on holding back those tears

But she's not one of them,  
one of those people who do better  
when they're alone.

She wants to be surrounded by warmth  
and smiles and the sun  
and her friends

And when she's not the one smiling at them,  
they can smile at her,  
take the weight off her back, and onto  
their own shoulders

And just as she fights for them,  
they fight for her.


	6. end

**Sprouting Seeds  
** 6: end

In the end, after all their friends,  
all their struggles, they're gone  
and she stands alone

Struggling to her feet  
with no-one there to grab  
her shaking hands  
and hold her there.

But even the fights after that  
aren't one on one.


	7. kittens

**Sprouting Seeds**  
7: kittens

That's their far off future,  
the dreams that are  
still fleeting dreams.

They can let their minds wander  
sleeping, when they rest  
and they close their eyes to the  
looming tomorrow

But then tomorrow  
becomes today,  
and the dreams  
return to slumber  
without them.


	8. faithful

**Sprouting Seeds**  
8: faithful

It's such an important thing,  
that trust,  
and yet, they  
take it for granted, because  
they're all too close  
to even think  
of betrayal –

And every time they face  
each other, instead  
of nameless, faceless  
clear-cut  
enemies

There's something else

But maybe  
that's just the  
excuse.


	9. stay

**Sprouting Seeds  
** 9: stay

They want to keep their calm,  
peaceful lives

They've gotten back  
and yet

They know something's missing,  
there's a shadow behind,  
a gorgeous elephant with ivory tusks  
and there's a piano they used to play  
with keys missing now

And maybe they don't want their  
calm, peaceful, lives enough  
because they turn  
and see that shadow

And then they're chasing those shadows  
and that's the end.


	10. birthday

**Sprouting Seeds**  
10: birthday

They can appreciate those happy,  
innocent times even more

Now that they've died more than once  
and be reborn.

Who else remembers?  
Who else recalls the sword  
through their chest, and the flames  
licking their bones and their flesh?

They have all the more  
reason to be grateful  
for this new life of theirs  
and their peaceful times.


	11. swanky

**Sprouting Seeds**  
11: swanky

Their jewels are riches  
far more  
valuable  
and she's  
a collector  
of such jewels.


	12. dreary

**Sprouting Seeds**  
12: dreary

A life of fighting is  
a draining life, and yet  
it's fulfilling too.

The night sky has stars  
and even brighter,  
the moon  
that smiles.

They can lie on their backs  
and stare at the constellations  
and draw their own legends  
on the fly

And they do fly, amidst the stars  
and moon, and sometimes  
clouded nights where there's  
nothing else but  
black; sometimes they fly blind

But they're flying towards  
tomorrow's sun  
and tomorrow's moon.


	13. important

**Sprouting Seeds**  
13: important

She doesn't learn to appreciate them  
at first; and it's a different place,  
a different time, a chance  
most never get and she has it

But it's also pins into  
the pincushion of their future,  
of her past…

Of course, she knows her parents  
aren't the perfect gems  
and here they are,  
even more imperfect than before

And it doesn't line up to her,  
going back in time  
but for them, it's fine;  
they'll grow.

She's just seen them first  
already grown.


	14. force

**Sprouting Seeds**  
14: force

They're just a bunch of teenage girls  
at first. All so varied,  
all so different,  
looking like they'd never  
fit together

Except they do,  
and they do it in ways,  
sometimes, only they know

And it's not quite true to say  
it's their enemies, and their fights  
that force.


	15. add

**Sprouting Seeds**  
15: add

Every time they face a stronger  
enemy they grow:  
in strength  
and in numbers as well.

That's that team of theirs:  
always growing, always expanding

Because the galaxy never stops  
growing, and nor does  
the darkness that surrounds it.

And so they must grow,  
and continue to grow  
as well.


	16. yard

**Sprouting Seeds**  
16: yard

It's a long road and she sees it all:  
twists and turns that spiral out  
and it's a spider's web, a game  
of amidakuji where those others  
who can't see the road have already  
picked their path and now they walk.

She can see all these paths  
and yet she stands, still,  
watching them all  
and never moving  
herself.


	17. eager

**Sprouting Seeds**  
17: eager

This isn't what she expects  
is the life of a hero  
but that's real life.  
Never like a book.  
Never following the manual  
no matter how long she spends  
editing it herself

And things are harder that way  
because, sometimes, she has nowhere  
to turn but her equally fumbling friend-heroes  
and they fumble around, blind, together

And sometimes it's easier  
because she's not held back  
by impossible.


	18. quiet

**Sprouting Seeds**  
18: quiet

Their peace is a  
precious commodity  
now, the quiet  
before  
the storm.

Sometimes the storm's  
already brewing,  
sometimes it's not  
quite there

But it's coming,  
on the horizon  
and they know better  
than to look away  
and close their eyes  
and pretend there's  
nothing coming  
but more peace.


	19. ink

**Sprouting Seeds**  
19: ink

They sneak about to save the world  
but their tales crawl out  
anyway.

Though like all tales, they get embellished  
along the way. Sometimes they  
flatter, sometimes they  
don't.

Sometimes they have to quibble  
over the truth no-one  
believes.

Because that's how tales go,  
in the end. They become the truth  
and the memories of the truth  
become the tale.


	20. great

**Sprouting Seeds**  
20: great

It's exhilarating. That power.  
Never being beat

But then a stronger enemy comes  
and they are  
defeated; they're not  
the strongest girls in the  
playground  
anymore.

But they have to be.  
They're the ones who fight  
evil every night, the ones  
who save the world

And save the people in  
the world, and that's a big thing  
these new girls don't do.

What's on the line is not her life  
but her pride.


	21. nostalgic

**Sprouting Seeds**  
21: nostalgic

Being a queen was very different.  
Far more slow, far more careful.  
Every little word becomes  
a tossing stone  
and they cause ripples  
onwards and outwards

And she can't just throw a punch  
and change the tides;  
she's already set them  
on.

Battles can't be fought on  
the battlefield forever  
and she doesn't want to  
anyway

But, sometimes, she misses the times  
where she really could change the tide  
of a fight with a punch.


	22. impulse

**Sprouting Seeds**  
22: impulse

She's always thought about why  
she fought, why she threw  
a punch

But maybe it was too obscure  
for the world

And that was sad, because  
that meant they were blind  
to their own crimes, the skeletons  
in their own backyards

And she, the protector  
of the weak, became  
the villain

But now her enemies had labels  
slapped on them: labels  
of evil

And she was no longer the  
villain, but the  
hero.


	23. delicate

**Sprouting Seeds**  
23: delicate

They were warriors, but also  
little girls. None of them  
were adults who knew  
all about the world.

They were stumbling  
along the road, and  
tripping over  
potholes

But they'd pick themselves up  
and continue on  
and not shatter  
into shards of glass.


	24. psychotic

**Sprouting Seeds**  
24: psychotic

They fought even when they knew  
they'd lose and die, they'd been abandoned  
and yet they fought anyway

Because to stop  
would mean to accept they'd been  
left behind, that they'd  
lost.

It was their sous screaming out  
because they wanted to be caught  
again, and loved  
but in this world  
there would be no love.

I am sorry,  
but this world is where the chaos is despised  
and the light is loved.

There's another world somewhere  
where chaos is the god's warm hands  
and I shall send you there  
with this,

My mercy,  
my final strike.


	25. doctor

**Sprouting Seeds**  
25: doctor

She saved lives even now.  
Just in a different way  
and there'd be time  
in between, where she  
only struggled  
day by day  
with no fruits to show.

She was clever,  
they said,  
but cleverness  
wasn't all there was.

Those things she was leaving  
behind she could get back

But she didn't think she had  
the patience to wait  
for that long.


	26. upset

**Sprouting Seeds**  
26: upset

They call her a crybaby  
because she cries.  
They call her a child  
because she cries.  
They call her weak  
because she cries

But they're only the ones  
looking out with sun-  
coloured lenses and they  
don't realise she's  
the moon.

Those who stand nearby  
know she cries  
for all those reasons  
but also, because  
she's sad:

Sad for all the tears  
in the world that aren't  
her own, and all the laughs  
that are aimed at  
those tears –  
and, most of all,  
at this world  
that just can't seem  
to get along.


	27. left

**Sprouting Seeds**  
27: left

They knew that, in the end,  
they wouldn't all be together.  
It was part of growing up.  
It was part of growing  
with the world.

The world was too big  
for them to always stay close  
and that was okay, because  
that meant they had the world's  
expanse within which  
to grow.

But that also meant that, some day  
they wouldn't be able to eat  
lunch together under the same tree…  
though still the same sky

And, in the night, they'd gaze  
upon the same moon  
together, still.


	28. adjustment

**Sprouting Seeds**  
28: adjustment

They weren't born to be heroes.  
They weren't made to be heroes  
but they tried. They only  
messed up lots  
along the way.

It was a learning curve  
they slid down.  
At least there were handlebars  
on the slide  
and a ladder  
side by side.

They didn't want to tumble down a  
rabbit hole, after all.  
They wanted to stand  
at the summit

And it just wasn't an easy  
climb to get there  
instead of hiking boots,  
in sneakers.


	29. van

**Sprouting Seeds**  
29: van

There's not peace enough  
to bundle into the family van  
and take a drive up the countryside  
like they used to

But there are pockets of fresh air  
even when the world around them drowns,  
and their minds equally drown.

Their bonds make a bubble  
and a chain  
and shield  
and sword…

They'll soon take up that sword.  
But, for now,  
they just need to breathe  
and have that road  
leading back  
to the fight  
that's to come.


	30. time

**Sprouting Seeds**  
30: time

They fight so much they know  
one day, they'll run out  
of time  
together  
because they can't always  
escape losing something.

Sometimes they do.  
That's luck, or good fortune.  
Sometimes they wish.  
That's a dream.  
Sometimes they do lose  
something. That's reality.  
Always they pray  
they won't.  
That's humanity.


	31. visitor

**Sprouting Seeds**  
31: visitor

They live a double life.  
Behind the closet door is a costume  
they can't reveal, and a mask  
they can't be seen wearing  
so they put on eyeliner  
and gloss and blush instead  
to hide the marks,  
the cracks, the scars:  
to hide their other life.


	32. agreement

**Sprouting Seeds**  
32: agreement

There was a contract somewhere  
buried under duties and past lives  
and friendship bonds and debts  
they'll spend their entire lives  
paying back.

There was a contract somewhere  
that they'd signed, long ago  
but they didn't know when

Even if they still penned their name  
in neat letters  
under the renewal line.


	33. nutty

**Sprouting Seeds**  
33: nutty

They don't make a smooth  
cohesive story, to those  
who watch, and that's okay.  
It's the guise they hide behind.  
It's their attempt at living  
duality; it's the two parts  
they can't quite harmonise.

And that's okay  
because they're not one person  
with split personalities, but old  
and new, and borrowed  
and sometimes blue

And, really, their souls are a little  
too complex to give  
a single name

And that's okay too  
because they can live their multiple lives  
in their one body, because they're bound  
together in each and every one.


	34. thrill

**Sprouting Seeds**  
34: thrill

She's never been the hero type.  
It's a wild life  
for a brave face  
and strong boots  
and her smile's always  
falling off her face

But real heroes aren't always  
hero material, though they all have  
masks, and hers work extra well  
to hide her,  
to give her strength  
and to keep her on the roll.


	35. tearful

**Sprouting Seeds**  
35: tearful

Sometimes he's touching something  
that's just beyond his reach.

It's the clouds in the sky,  
the darkness in the water,  
the smile behind the tears  
and he wants to just reach out  
and brush them away  
but they keep coming  
and he can't quite touch  
what's behind.

It's just beyond his reach  
but he chases anyway.  
Maybe, one day, they'll come  
a little closer

Or they'll stay forever apart  
but bound together:  
the earth and the moon.


	36. uninterested

**Sprouting Seeds**  
36: uninterested

There were too many eyes on them,  
too many looking for them  
and the shadows  
they hid behind.

It wasn't easy to blend back into the world  
after they took off, like angels  
in flight to protect

But they didn't want to leave that life of theirs  
behind, and so they treaded the careful shadows  
marking the path home.


	37. sophisticated

**Sprouting Seeds**  
37: sophisticated

They were normal girls acting  
princess roles, and hero roles  
as well – and why not  
when they were at that soft and malleable  
age where they could put on a costume  
and a touch of makeup  
and transform

But however they looked and dressed,  
they were young and soft  
inside.


	38. detect

**Sprouting Seeds**  
38: detect

She was all alone  
in the world.

Then she looked  
and found them all:  
seeds  
floating on the breeze  
like the stalks of a dandelion

And she needs that wish,  
that thirteenth hour  
where the sand doesn't run.

She'll be the stalk  
if she can collect all those  
seeds and put them back  
and blow them  
herself.


	39. worried

**Sprouting Seeds**  
39: worried

They disappear far too often,  
sleep far too much  
and then too little,  
stirring in the night  
with terrors no-one knows  
but them.

They're too free but too busy,  
barely with friends,  
barely drifting, aimless  
but, instead, always rushing about

But they're just children,  
just teenagers who should have all the time  
in the world to meander away

Except they don't, and they're fighting battles  
that teenagers shouldn't have to fight,  
battles that eat up their spare time  
and keep them up at night.


	40. tremendous

**Sprouting Seeds**  
40: tremendous

It's a magic spell  
to turn a bouncy rabbit  
into a graceful princess  
under the moonlight…

But the rabbit jumps over the moon  
or so the legend goes: this one dances  
underneath, but inside  
is a spring, call coiled  
and waiting to snap

When the princess finds her crown  
and sceptre, and becomes  
the queen.


	41. airplane

**Sprouting Seeds**  
41: airplane

They stand on the wings of the aeroplane.  
It's a precautious stage  
for their duel

But it's their stage.  
They face each other.  
The clouds are sliced through.  
The wind howls  
their challenge.

A misstep could end them  
as fast as a knockout could  
and she's got a longer reach.

He tightened his grip on his sword.  
It's their battle stage, whatever it is  
and he'll fight for victory on it.


	42. salty

**Sprouting Seeds**  
42: salty

Tears had many different tastes.  
Sometimes they were bitter tangs  
like lemon between her teeth.  
Sometimes they were salty tracks  
kissing deep scratches on her skin.

But sometimes they were sugar sweet  
as well, moistening her lips  
and sweeter still  
when they met someone else's lips  
in response.


	43. crash

**Sprouting Seeds**  
43: crash

He didn't remember the crash.  
He didn't remember anything at all  
really, from before, but sometimes  
there'd be yellow, or white  
or a smile from the moon above  
while the sun's glares were too bright.

He doesn't remember the past  
but in it is something special, something bright  
as well as sad. Is it the crash?  
What he lost with the crash?  
Somehow, that doesn't fit.  
There's something else.

But whatever's buried there,  
he may never know.


	44. way

**Sprouting Seeds**  
44: way

Later, she'd wish there'd been  
another way, been  
a way she could have  
escaped the chains that  
bound her now

But it was already leaking out.  
It needed a gaoler,  
a jail  
and she was both of those.  
With her heavy hands  
she could lock it down,  
keep it close  
and wrestle with it  
again

But it would defeat her  
one day: she was only so strong.  
It needed a stronger, everlasting  
prison, and a human  
was a candle's flame  
in that.


	45. false

**Sprouting Seeds**  
45: false

They were searching for an answer  
and it was far too easy  
to stumble into rabbit holes  
along the way.

There was no-one to confirm for them  
which was true, which was false  
and which was the carrot sticks  
they chased after  
round and round  
and going nowhere.


	46. acoustic

**Sprouting Seeds**  
46: acoustic

It was like a folklore.  
Perhaps, one day, it would be  
a tale known by all the galaxy

But not then, when they lived it,  
when the tunes were harsh and raw  
to their ears, and too few people knew.

One day the tale would spread  
when it wasn't so near and dear

But first, they had to find  
the end of their own tale.


	47. argument

**Sprouting Seeds**  
47: argument

Just because fate tied them together  
it didn't mean they were a perfect braid.  
They clashed. They fought.  
They stumbled over each other.  
They left gaping holes.

They weren't a perfect team  
and maybe that meant they were too many  
or else not complete, or maybe  
there was no such thing

And they just had to keep on trying  
to be a neat bundle of strings  
together.


	48. reduce

**Sprouting Seeds**  
48: reduce

One by one, the stars went down.  
One by one, the flames went out  
but the candles still stood  
wicks straight and tall –

She just needed  
to light them up again.

She wasn't a match  
or a magician  
who could snap her fingers  
and cast the spell.

There were matches though.  
Seeds to sprout.  
Seeds to catch flame.

She only had to snatch them  
from their drowning cage.


	49. two

**Sprouting Seeds**  
49: two

At first, it was just the two of them.  
That was too fragile:  
a glass half-filled with water  
that could easily fall  
and crack and spill  
all over the floor.

She was weak and clumsy and inexperienced  
on her own, but with company and time both  
she grew.

She was still a fragile glass cup inside  
but outside, wrapped in wool.


	50. bare

**Sprouting Seeds**  
50: bare

All too quickly, she was exposed.  
There was a shadow in her chest now  
and she couldn't let go.  
It would find every crevice,  
every nook, and every scar  
she'd tucked away  
deep inside.

It'd dig at those old wounds:  
make new ones,  
make her bleed  
until all her lungs were full  
of blood, instead of air.

She'll choke on that blood before  
someone can get a drain  
into her.


	51. detail

**Sprouting Seeds**  
51: detail

They didn't know each other  
when it all began; they didn't  
even know themselves

But they learnt.  
Slowly, they learnt  
about each other,  
about themselves

And about the white outside  
their circle

And both of those grew  
on and on  
as they grew as well.


	52. system

**Sprouting Seeds**  
52: system

They hadn't been picked at random  
from a deck of playing cards.  
Maybe someone had rigged the game.  
Maybe it was never a game  
to be rigged, but  
a formula  
where the answer had to  
exist.

Whatever the reason, they fit together:  
the puzzle pieces to solve

Not all the world's problems  
but all the ones  
for them to solve.


End file.
